Way, way, way back in the day – when motorized vehicles only had two wheels instead of four – Trials 2 got a ringing endorsement from an earlier incarnation of the RPS hivemind. Praises were sang, odes were composed, and tiny ragdoll men were flung into infinite abysses for the entertainment of their cruel masters. But then – just like that – the physics-based slice of motorized mayhem rode off into the sunset. And off a cliff. Consoles, is what I’m saying in this painfully overwrought metaphor. But now, with Trials Evolution: Gold Edition, the series is finally back. But is it better than ever? Haphazardly fling yourself into the break’s infinite abyss to learn more.

So yes, there’s a lot here. A whole, whole lot. Basically, we’re getting every bit of Trials content we’ve missed out on since 2008. Here’s the rundown, straight from Ubi’s abruptly PC-friendly (or at least, less PC-hostile) shores:

“Trials Evolution: Gold Edition will feature all of the original game’s content, newly optimized and enhanced for the PC, including all the features that made the original a success: online multiplayer, global leaderboards and player-created content. The Gold Edition will also include everything from Trials HD – the XBLA predecessor to Trials Evolution – doubling the amount of content being offered in the return of Trials to the PC. Altogether, Trials Evolution: Gold Edition will contain more than 120 tracks, skill games, and multiplayer levels.”

There’s also a map editor that’s based on the very same tech RedLynx used, so expect this one to have a healthy shelf life – sustained, of course, by absurdly frustrating deathtraps and recreations of World 1-1 from Mario. But there are worse fates in this world.

Right then, I’m pretty excited about this one. I have to confess to having my first Trials experience by way of console-playing friends, but now I can pull off nigh-impossible feats of wheelie dexterity without the specter of crippling guilt weighing me down. Hooray! Oh Ubisoft, you’re the best fairweather friend ever.

Adam spoke with Red Lynx while poking his fingers and eyes into Ubisoft’s various PC offerings yesterday, and has just wandered into the post bleating like a lamb in a blender: “When asked about the release date, 2013 is as small a window as anyone would commit to. There’s a new set of DLC coming for the console version of the game, which our Eurogamer chums have shaken a wordstick at. As the development team is still small, work on the PC version won’t have resources dedicated to it until that DLC is finished, so that it can receive plenty of attention. Sometime in 2013 then, but we might well receive a more exact timeframe once work begins in earnest.

It’s also not entirely clear if the Origin of Pain content will be included with the PC version. I think not but, again, verification will probably come later.”

He’s gone again now, muttering quite excitedly about the new Call of Juarez game, which you should probably expect him to write about later today.

The only “improvement” the Xbox versions made were to take Trials and turn it from a methodically paced platforming/puzzle type game into a HOLD THE BUTTON AS HARD AS YOU CAN TO GO OFF ALL THESE SWEET JUMPS FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH game, which really isn’t an improvement at all.

You didn’t play the game up to hard and extreme, and it shows. It’s okay to be elitist, but it’s not okay to trash something without having a clue what you’re saying. Trials HD and Evo are hard games in the end, and I challenge you to make an extreme track while holding the gas button and never letting go. good luck.

Let’s see, I agree with Flukie that the XBox games are much better, and with Shralla that they are much easier. But that’s part of what makes them better (Trials HD, my favorite, also has fantastic graphic design (many of Evo’s levels are way too dark IMHO)).

I disagree with Ghil, the problem with the PC Trials was that it got way too hard *too quickly* for mediocre players like myself. Maybe the last couple of levels in the XBox versions are hard, but in Evo I finished all levels (not with great times), in Trials 2 I still have to unlock 6 levels, and several levels I am sure I completed only once.

People who have not had a chance to play the XBox versions are in for a treat (my favorite, never completed, custom level is ‘The Tower’).

Any chance these bring back the magic of the original Java game, originally hosted on dnainternet.fi?

I know I can get hold of it standalone from some sources, but I’m unsure of the legal situation on that given when RedLynx (presumably) bought the rights and code, all existence of the in-browser original and its direct derivatives vanished from the internet. These were replaced by RedLynx’s own, awful (at the time) interpretations, with butchered physics and controls that lacked the fluidity, and crisp response (on a decent PC) of the game they’d destroyed.

Trials 2 was a great improvement over RedLynx’s first attempts, mind you, but it focused more on speed and driving to the game’s physics rather than the original’s attempt at playfully aping the real thing – and I still prefer dna Trials’ physics over Trials 2. I think there’s room for both approaches in one game, though.

Don’t know why I wrote all that, though – I’ll probably be buying this regardless!

I’ve played my share of Trials Evolution on console already, and I can only say that what you can to with the so called “map editor” is absolutely friggin’ batshit bananas.

It doesn’t only do tracks, it does everything. I’ve seen ego shooters done with the ingame editor and a whole lot of other ridiculous stuff. And here I mean ridiculous in the best possible way. It’s like the Little Big Planet of bike games.

I’m not sure how well it works to portion out news like this, RPS. This was announced 24 hours ago, and I refuse to believe that you didn’t know about it & couldn’t write a small summary yesterday instead of waiting to fill some “slot” on your calendar.

Yeah RPS! You hear that? Doesn’t matter what else any of you may have been doing, whether that be playing new games to bring us Impressions or WITs, writing other relevant articles, or possibly even sleeping if you live in the Western US. This guy’s a paying customer! He made the effort to click all the ads so you guys can roll around in your Scrooge McDuck money-pits while you perform your piss-easy job playing computer games, probably on easy and dying all the time, and as such he’s now entitled to call the shots! Screw your internal schedules, current circumstances or alternative priorities, you need to roll out the news Zeewolf wants when Zeewolf demands it!

This post has 14 comments counting this one. You know what I think? I think that it would have been generating a lot more buzz and discussion if it was posted when the announcement was new instead of 24 hours later, when it’s not news any more.

RPS is obviously going for a safe 1 post per hour rate, but the problem with that is that it’s a) predictable and boring, and b) it just doesn’t work when covering news.

Just saying. What do I know? Nothing. (oh, except for the tiny little things I’ve picked up in the ten years I’ve been working in the field of online journalism)

I doubt the fact there are only 14 comments is anything due to the news being a whole 24 hours old. This isn’t the Reuters newswire. Generally when news of something gets put up after release the comment threads are full of people who’ve played it commenting on how good it is, or people who haven’t expressing an interest.

I think it’s probably more likely there aren’t that many comments because most readers of this site are, for one reason or another, not particularly interested, hence why RPS might not have found it a priority. Worth pointing out that there’re only about 14 comments on the article on Eurogamer and they posted it yesterday, covering both the 360 and PC versions, on a site that with more traffic, so I don’t think your argument carries much merit.

And I could be wrong here, but plain ‘news’ is Nathan’s remit these days, and what with him being based in California it may not have been particularly expedient for him depending on when the actual announcement was made.

If you’ve been working for ten years in online journalism I’m sure you’re free post whatever news you want, whenever you want on your own site. I also doubt you’d particularly appreciate commenters dictating how you do your job.

I am not dictating anyone. I’m offering my at-least-somewhat-educated opinion, and being ridiculed for it. Thanks for that. And when I respond, I’m being told that I’m free to go play somewhere else if I don’t like it here. Thanks again, I didn’t know that. I kind of like it here, you know, it’s just that I think their _new_ drip-drip-drip posting policy has some drawbacks and in my opinion is far from ideal.

I realize they want to have something new at all times during the day, but while it’s absolutely a good idea to portion out features, reviews and the like, news is different and should in most cases be handled differently. But whatever. I was just offering my feedback. I didn’t think people would be so annoyed.

(and yeah, I deal with comments like this every day, and while it’s not something I always appreciate, it is often helpful. unlike the RPS guys, however, I don’t have “my own site”, while it wasn’t always like this it’s now owned by people I’ve never met and will never meet)

Looks more like MotoCross than Trials to me, though.
The original (Java) one did capture the feel of real trials pretty well (considering its limitations), but this looks like it all about speed and big jumps.

It’s all about not alienating casuals and newcomers, it ends up being way harder in the end, also easier tracks are just as challenging when you are going for the fastest line and competing against other people and you can get thousands of tracks that are ridiculously hard on Track Central, it is no big deal at all.

I mean this in the most sincere and ecstatic way I can: It’s about damn time. I haven’t had the scratch to get my Xbox back in working order, so I’m so so so excited that this awesome game is coming to the platform I still use.

I hope it’ll be good quality as a port, though. If the dev team is as small as they say, I’m a little scared about how well everything will function. Just a little.

I’ve played both to death on consolebox and loved them. Not sure I need to buy them again, however. Except my 360’s fan makes scary noises now, and apart from Skyrim (when it came out my PC was underpowered) they’re the only games I use it for. So if they time this for when it’s dead, I’ll give in, I know it.